Shawn Lamb charged with murder in the deaths of three Winnipeg women

WINNIPEG — Police suspect an alleged serial killer who preyed on aboriginal women may have struck before and are contacting police departments across the country to see if he can be linked to other missing women.

A police source told the Winnipeg Free Press the man attracted attention after he claimed to have found the bodies of Ms. Sinclair and Ms. Blacksmith wrapped in plastic and dumped near city garbage bins downtown. Ms. Nepinak’s body has not been found.

I don’t know of any errors in this investigation at all. Sometimes you get a break in the case and that’s what happened here

Ms. Sinclair was pregnant when she died.

Inspector Rick Guyader told a news conference Mr. Lamb was considered a person of interest in all three cases. He was questioned about them after he was arrested Thursday for sexually assaulting a 36-year-old woman.

Police said information turned up that investigation led them to Ms. Blacksmith.

Police Chief Keith McCaskill acknowledged people have been speculating for some time whether there was a serial killer preying on women in Winnipeg, but there hadn’t been evidence to tie any cases together until now.

“We never said there was no serial killer. We said we had no evidence to suggest there is one,” he said.

“Now we have that evidence.”

He said he stands by the work of investigators and how long it took to interview Mr. Lamb.

“I don’t know of any errors in this investigation at all. Sometimes you get a break in the case and that’s what happened here.”

Police described Mr. Lamb, a drifter who is originally from Sarnia, Ont., as well-travelled but dismissed reports he worked as a truck driver.

They said they are contacting other police departments to see if he can be connected to unsolved cases of other murdered or missing women.

Court documents show Mr. Lamb has an extensive criminal history over the past decade. In Manitoba, he has numerous convictions for offences such as robbery, weapons, uttering threats and fraud.

He was most recently charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and procuring the sexual services of someone under age 18. The offences date back to Oct. 23, 2011, but he wasn’t charged until May. He was released from custody at that time on a promise to appear.

Insp. Guyader believes Mr. Lamb had contact with all three victims. He is said to have been a friend of Ms. Nepinak’s and met Ms. Blacksmith and Ms. Sinclair on the street. The police officer would not confirm reports all three were prostitutes.

Chief McCaskill said it doesn’t matter what the women did for a living. “They are victims and they should never have been,” he said.

Ms. Sinclair, 25, who was originally from the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation of Pukatawagan, was reported missing Jan. 11, when she hadn’t been in touch with family members.

Court documents show police believe she was killed Dec. 18. Her body was found March 31 near a garbage bin in an alley off Notre Dame Avenue.

Ms. Blacksmith, 18, was from the Cross Lake First Nation. She was last seen last December and was reported missing a month later. At the time, police said they believed she had travelled to Alberta.

She appears to have been killed Jan. 12. Her body was found Thursday by a garbage bin off Simcoe Street.

Police said both bodies were too badly decomposed to determine how the women died or if they had been sexually assaulted.

Ms. Nepinak, 31, was last seen Sept. 13 in downtown Winnipeg. At the time, police issued a news release saying they were concerned for her well-being.

Chief McCaskill said investigators are still trying to locate her body, but have enough evidence to indicate she is dead. Court documents show police believe she was killed the same day she was last seen.

She was from the Pine Creek First Nation, north of Dauphin, and had two children, said Derek Nepinak, Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He is a distant cousin from the same reserve.

“Our hearts go out to the families and communities that are feeling the pain right now,” Chief Nepinak said.

He commended police on Lamb’s arrest, but said there are always concerns about the “pace” of investigations involving missing aboriginal women. He plans to ask the Manitoba government to call a public inquiry into missing and murdered women in the province.